Railway journal lubricator device



Feb. 16, 1943. J. J. HENNESSY RAILWAY JOURNAL LUBRICATOR DEVICE Filed Dec. 4, 1940 Nd E v I INVENTOR. JAMES J. HENNESSY BY 2 A'I'TORNEY.

Patented Feb. 16, 1943 UNHTED STATES" PA'E'EN'E QFFICE 2 Claims.

The invention relates to mechanical lubricators of the general type illustrated in Patent No. 2,162,383 issued to the present applicant June 13, 1939, in which the play of the axle and axlebox longitudinally of the axle is utilized to actuate a pump whereby lubricant is fed from the bottom of the box to the journal.

Such devices usually include a telescoping conduit leading from the lubricant cellar, formed by or in the bottom of the box, to the journal and a distributor applied to the lower portion of the journal and supplied with lubricant from the upper end of the conduit. These and associated parts must have relative vertical movement to accommodate variations in the height of the journal and box bottom and to accommodate relative vertical movement due to the riding of the equipment over rough track. Lateral thrusts are transmitted between the parts due to the nature of the service, and the extent of these thrusts, together with the necessary relativ vertical movements, tends to wear the parts so that undesirable play between them is developed, and this play may interfere with the effective functioning of the device, and particularly of the lubricant conduit.

The main object of the present invention is to prevent undue lateral play between the parts of the device which have relative vertical, play and thereby prolong the useful life of the lubricator and reduce or eliminate theexpense of renewing worn parts.

This and other detail objects of the invention are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure l is an isometric View partly in section of a lubricator of the type described, the lubricant reservoir, the journal and the journal bearing being shown in broken lines.

Figure 2 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. r

The axle journal is indicated at I, its bearing at 2, and the lower portion of the cellar at 3. The pump includes a body 4 provided with cylinders (not shown) which receive pistons, the outer upwardly from recess l0. Conduit H is formed of telescoping sections, the upper one of which terminates in a distributor plate [2 which is thrust against the journal by spring l3. Felt pads [4 are seated in a pan I5, which is thrust upwardly by a coil spring l5 to hold the pads against the journal. The pads are recessed to accommodate distributor plate l2, which is fitted therein, and this arrangement, along with the inclosure of the conduit and springs by the pan neck ll, positions the conduit transversely of the box. A holding plate I8 is seated in the cellar with its flanged sides I9 against the sides of the cellar. The plate is notched at 20 to receive the upstanding housing portion 2! of the body and prevent play of the body transversely of the box.

Upstanding channel-shaped guide plates 22 are secured to the top of plate l8 and cooperating channel-shaped guide plates 23 are secured to the inclined side walls 24 of pan I5. 'Each pair of plates 22 and 23 slide upon each other vertically, but plates 22 hold plates 23 and the parts to which they are attached against movement transversely or longitudinally of the box. Guide plates 22 and 23 resist the side pull of the journal on the felt pads, thereby avoiding lateral play of the pan and conduit in the box and avoiding undue wear between the telescoping parts of the conduit and between the rounded lower end of the conduit and its seat in the pump body.

The wide intercontact area of plates 22 and 23 makes it possible to keep the distributor in service until the distributor plate and pads are worn sufiiciently to require renewal of the entire device without requiring previous changing of the nipple, as has been necessary previously in many instances because of the play between the parts 7 resulting from wear and the consequent loss of lubricant between the pump cylinders and the journal.

The guide structure illustrated and described is simple and effective for its intended purpose, but it will be understood that the construction and arrangement of these guides may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway axle journal lubricating device for insertion in a journal box, structure arranged to rest upon the bottom of the box and including a pump'body, a conduit comprising upright telescoping tubular members, the lower end of one a conduit member being seated upon the central portion of said body, a pan-like part extending laterally in opposite directions from the upper portion of the upper tubular member and carrying and positioning a Wide non-metallic fiber-like distributor of relatively large area surrounding said conduit and arranged to fit against the journal to which the device is applied and to receive lubricant discharged from the upper end of said conduit, a plate associated with said pump body for positioning the latter in the journal box and provided With rigid upstanding guides spaced substantially from said conduit transversely of the structure, and depending guide elements fixed'to said pan-like part and slidably engaging said guides and holding said pan-like part and distributor against movement laterally of the pump in the direction of movement of the adjacent surface of the rotating journal to relieve the telescoping conduit members of excess Wear due to lateral thrust during their telescoping movements.

2. A structure as described in claim 1 in which the guides and guide elements are of channelshaped cross section with their webs of substantial width and opposing each other to stabilize the pan-like part and prevent tilting of th distributor longitudinally of the structure.

JAS. J. HENNESSY. 

